Student Project Gets Subway Riders to Scratch and Sniff

“If You Smell Something, Smell Something Else.” Those words introduce a handful of signs that have been popping up at a few subway stations around the city, including Canal Street, Herald Square and Union Square. And most people, quite frankly, would rather do just that, if they had a choice…and now they do. School of Visual Arts graphic design student Angela Kim was acutely aware of this fact, and she decided to add a few more to the collection.

Kim, whose thesis involves smell and design, wanted to get straphangers aware of the MTA’s inability to keep tracks and stations clean despite fare hikes–and to associate the information with our sense of smell. To that end, she put together some scents and set her “Scratch & Sniff” program in motion.

Using fonts and design that mimic the all-too-familiar subway information signs, Kim’s ersatz additions consist of pastel-hued scent strips infused with aromas like vanilla and lavender with instructions to scratch and sniff the “Odor at this station.”

Judging from the photos on Kim’s website, subway riders have been sniffing around, and seem to be welcoming the change in scent-ery. Find out more about the project at Angela Kim’s site, and watch a video of the project here: